It has been a fascinating week watching John Hufnagel field questions he often can’t quite make out.

The Calgary Stampeder head coach’s hearing impairment — which has worsened over the 20 years since he first heard the ringing that wasn’t there — has made the everyday mass interview in rooms with less than ideal acoustics an ongoing Grey Cup adventure, filled with mystified looks from the 61-year-old coach and general manager, who’s had to appeal to CFL personnel to repeat the questions from close range so that he can also read their lips.

If Hufnagel has been frustrated by it, he has handled it all with grace and good humour, and a lot of patience. That, in itself, is a revelation for a man whose exterior can be more than a bit forbidding, even intimidating.

TORONTO, Ont. — Already boasting four Grey Cup rings, Calgary defensive lineman Anwar Stewart is playing for one for the thumb.

The 12-year veteran will play for his fifth ring when the Stampeders face the Toronto Argonauts on Sunday at Rogers Centre in the iconic game’s 100th anniversary.

A heady accomplishment, considering Stewart was forced to spend eight months wondering if he’d even play this season. He was released in February by Montreal following 10 seasons there and wasn’t signed by Calgary until Oct. 12.

Despite his many trips to the Grey Cup, the 36-year-old Stewart says it never gets old.

“Yeah, yeah you get that feeling, it’s in the stomach, the butterflies,” Stewart said Saturday following Calgary’s walkthrough at Rogers Centre. “The thing about me is I might be a crybaby but I get really emotional.

“When I think about the game, where I’ve come from, how far God has blessed me, it’s a real honour to be here. [Calgary quarterback] Glenn was talking to us earlier today and this is his 12th year and he’s never been to a Grey Cup. In 2007 he broke his arm so he wasn’t able to play and I look at it and this is my ninth Grey Cup. You never stop getting that feeling.”

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The six-foot-four, 255-pound Stewart made eight Grey Cup appearances with Montreal from 2002 to 2011, winning three times. He earned his first Grey Cup ring in 2001 with Calgary but didn’t play in the Stampeders’ 27-19 upset win over Winnipeg.

Stewart participated in his first Grey Cup contest the following year in Montreal’s 25-16 win over Edmonton as the Alouettes thwarted the Eskimos’ bid to capture the CFL title game on home soil. Ironically, its the same challenge Stewart and the Stampeders will face Sunday at Rogers Centre.

“It was crazy, it was cold,” Stewart said of the ’02 Grey Cup game. “I kind of knew what to expect but I really didn’t.

The one thing you have to do in a game like this is start fast and stay focused

“Now, I’m the older guy so I understand the emotions, why guys are crying. Why guys are by themselves and why they’re isolated because you need to have that type of preparation. You’ve got to dream these things, you’ve got to visualize these things and I think when you do those type of things there’s a connection.”

Experience has also taught Stewart that the Grey Cup is anything but just another football game.

“I told the guys that when they come here tomorrow the lights are going to be five times brighter, there’s going to be so much stuff going on and sometimes you’re not going to be able to breathe,” Stewart said. “I told them they’re just going to have to relax, take it all in and at the end of the day just try to take it as a normal game.”

That’s easier said than done for Toronto safety Jordan Younger, who will make his second Grey Cup appearance Sunday but first since winning with the Argos in ’04 as a rookie.

“When I talk to the guys I try to make them aware just how special the moment is, how influential the moment is,” said the 34-year-old Younger. “This is the 100th Grey Cup, this moment is going to be recorded and remembered for a long long long time and a lot of people are going to care about this moment for a long time.

“The ring is a bonus, you love having the ring. But it’s about having the experience and being able to say you were the best.”

Stewart said Calgary’s gameplan will be simple: Get to Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray, who has thrown 11 TDs against one interception in his last four starts since returning from a knee injury.

“The one thing you have to do in a game like this is start fast and stay focused,” Stewart said. “When you can do that and you can jump on somebody early, especially in a game like this being in this stadium it will take the crowd out of the game.

“At the end of the day defensively we have to get after Ricky Ray, we have to apply the pressure early and see what happens.”

One of the perks for members of the winning team is being able to have the Grey Cup in their possession for a day, and if the Stampeders are victorious Stewart has definite plans for the trophy.

“What I’d like to do is get the Grey Cup and bring it to Montreal for a couple of parties and invite [Als tackle] Josh Bourke, [defensive lineman John] Bowman and all the guys.

“I think that would be great. They probably wouldn’t come but I’d invite them anyway.”